A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

Jim Stark: You're tearing me apart!
Jim Stark: I woke up this morning, you know... and the sun was shining, and it was nice, and all that type of stuff. And the first thing, I saw you, and, uh, I said, "Boy, this is gonna be one terrific day, so you better live it up, because tomorrow you'll be nothing." You see? And I almost was.
Jim Stark: Nobody talks to children.
Judy: No, they just tell them.
Jim Stark: I don't know what to do anymore. Except maybe die.
Buzz Gunderson: You know something? I like you.
Jim Stark: Why do we do this?
Buzz Gunderson: You've gotta do something. Don't you?
Jim Stark: You can wake up now, the universe has ended.
Judy: I love somebody. All the time I've been... I've been looking for someone to love me. And now I love somebody. And it's so easy. Why is it easy now?
Jim Stark: I don't know; it is for me, too.
Judy: I love you, Jim. I really mean it.
Jim Stark: Well, I'm glad.
Jim Stark: You know something? You read too many comic books.
Jim Stark: [sitting down, hugging his father's legs helplessly] Help me!
Frank Stark: Look, Jim. You can depend on me. Trust me. Whatever comes, we'll, we'll fix it together. I swear it. Now Jim, stand up. I'll stand up with you. I'll try and be as strong as you want me to be. Come on.
[Looking up at stars in a planetarium]
Jim Stark: Once you been up there you know you've been someplace.
Plato: Do you think the end of the world will come at nighttime?
Jim Stark: Uh-uh, at dawn.
Jim Stark: Is this where you live?
Judy: Who lives?
Jim Stark: I've got the bullets!
Frank Stark: You'll learn. When you're older, Jim.
Jim Stark: Well, I don't think that I want to learn that way.
Mrs. Carol Stark: Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because we're moving.
Jim Stark: [Grabs his mother] You're not going to tear me loose again.
Frank Stark: Well, this is news to me! Just why are we moving?
Mrs. Carol Stark: Oh, do I have to spell it out.
Jim Stark: You are not going to use me as an excuse again!
Mrs. Carol Stark: I don't.
Jim Stark: Everytime you can't face yourself, you blame it on me!
Mrs. Carol Stark: That is not true!
Jim Stark: You say it's because of me, you say it's because of the neighborhood! You use every other phony excuse! Mom, I just... Once I want to do something right! And I don't want you to run away from me again! Dad.
Frank Stark: This is all going too fast for me, son.
Jim Stark: You better give me something. You better give me something fast.
Mrs. Carol Stark: Jimmy, you're very young. A foolish decision now could wreck you're whole life. In ten years, you'll never know this happened.
Jim Stark: Dad, answer her. Tell her. Ten years. Dad, let me hear you answer her. Dad.
[Mr. Stark sits quietly]
Jim Stark: Dad, stand up for me.
[Mr. Stark still sits quietly, he grabs his father and yanks him up]
Jim Stark: Stand up!
Frank Stark: We give you love and affection, don't we? Well, then, what is it? Was it because we went to that party? Well, you know what kind of drunken brawls those kind of parties turn into. It's not a place for kids.
Mrs. Carol Stark: A minute ago, you said you didn't care if he drinks.
Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother: He said a little drink.
Jim Stark: You're tearing me apart!
Mrs. Carol Stark: [shocked] What?
Jim Stark: You, you say one thing, he says another, and everybody changes back again!
Mrs. Carol Stark: That's a fine way to behave!
Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother: Well, you know who he takes after.
Jim Stark: [to Ray] Please, lock me up. I'm gonna hit somebody and I don't want to...
Buzz Gunderson: You ever been in a chickie-run?
Jim Stark: Yeah, that's all I ever do.
[Buzz leaves]
Jim Stark: Plato, what's a chickie-run?
Ray Fremick: Do you go by another name?
Plato: They call me Plato.
Crawford Family Maid: He was a Greek philosopher. They
[Plato turns away]
Crawford Family Maid: You talk nice to the man, John, he's going to help you.
Plato: Nobody can help me.
Jim Stark: If I had one day when I didn't have to be all confused and I didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?
Buzz Gunderson: Oh he's real abstract. He's hm, he's different.
Jim Stark: That's right. That's right. I'm cute too.
Plato: I used to lay awake in my crib at night and listen to them fight.
Jim Stark: Can you really remember back that far? I can't even remember what happened yesterday.
Jim Stark: If he had guts to knock Mom cold once, then maybe she'd be happy and then she'd stop picking on him. Because they make mush out of him! Just mush!
Jim Stark: [walks down the stairs and into the empty pool] Oh, a sunken nursery!
Judy: Hello, Jamie.
Jim Stark: Jamie?
Jim Stark: Hey they forgot to wind the sundial.
Jim Stark: [to a shivering Plato] Want my jacket?
[Plato looks up at Jim]
Jim Stark: You want my jacket? It's warm.
[Plato shakes his head]
Jim Stark: Now, would you like to rent or are you more in the mood to buy, dear?
Judy: You decide, darling. Remember, our budget.
Plato: Oh, don't give it a second thought, it's, uh, only 3 million dollars a month.
Jim Stark: What?
Judy: Oh, we can afford it. I'll scrimp and I'll save and I'll work my fingers to the bone. You see, we're newlyweds... oh, there's just one more thing... what about...
Plato: Children?
Judy: Yes.
Plato: Right this way, mind you, though, we don't encourage them. They're such a bother.
Judy: Oh I quite agree, I just can't stand it when they cry. What do you do with them when they cry?
Jim Stark: [Magoo voice] Drown 'em like puppies, ha!
Jim Stark: I don't want any trouble.
Jim Stark: I don't think I want anything, I'm nervous.
Frank Stark: My first day of school, I was so nervous, Mother made me eat so much, I couldn't swallow until recess.
Jim Stark: Get lost!
Ray Fremick: Hang loose, boy. I'm warning you!
Jim Stark: Wash up and go home!
Jim Stark: I didn't chicken. You saw where I jumped. What did I have to do, kill myself?
Jim Stark: Turn out the light!
Jim Stark: I'll bet you'd go to a hanging.
Plato: I guess it's just my morbid personality.
Plato: If only you coulda been my dad. We could have breakfast in the morning.
Crawford Family Maid: You're shivering, John. Are you cold?
Jim Stark: [Gets up from his seat and takes his jacket off] You want my jacket?
Jim Stark: Did you make my sandwiches?
Mrs. Carol Stark: There's meatloaf and, peanut butter.
[Jim laughs]
Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother: What did I tell you?
[condescendingly]
Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother: Peanut butter.
Mrs. Carol Stark: Well there's a thermos of orange juice and apple sauce cake to go with it.
Mrs. Stark, Jim's grandmother: [to Jim] And *I* made that.
[first lines]
First police officer: Get up, get up. Mixed up in that beating on 12th street, huh?
Second police officer: No. Plain drunkenness.
[last lines]
Jim Stark: Mom. Dad. This is Judy. She's my friend.
Mrs. Carol Stark: He's...
[Frank speaks, overlapping so their words become unintelligible]
Police Chief: Why did you shoot those puppies, John?
Frank Stark: I wouldn't make a hasty decision. Nobody can make a snap decision. We've got to consider the pros and cons, make a list, get advice... Have I ever stopped you from doing anything?
Buzz Gunderson: What's that?
Judy: That's a new disease.
Police Chief: You know if the boy ever talked to a psychiatrist?
Plato: You mean a head-shrinker?
Crawford Family Maid: Oh, Mrs. Crawford don't believe in them, sir.
Police Chief: Well, maybe she better start.
Jim Stark: [referring to his parents] They think I can make friends if we move. Just move, everything will be roses and sunshine.
Plato: What does he know about man alone?